Archive for October 24th, 2010

Foreign Ministry drawing up options for Iran bomb threat

Policy options considered for ‘day after’ Iran passes nuclear threshold; official: Teheran with the bomb would be a disaster, but one we must be ready to respond to.

While Israeli officials consistently talk about how “no option is off the table when it comes to Iran,” and how Israel cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear power, the Foreign Ministry is drawing up options for the possibility Teheran may indeed acquire the bomb.
Revelations on Sunday of a Foreign Ministry team working on these contingency plans was the first admission that the government is giving serious thought to adjusting to a reality where Israel is no longer, according to foreign sources, the sole nuclear power in the region.
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That the government is preparing various contingency plans for if it “wakes up one morning and there is a nuclear Iran” does not mean that Jerusalem has come to terms with this eventuality, but rather that it is preparing for it if it transpires, one government official explained.
“You prepare for a natural disaster even though you do everything in your power to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” the official said. “You have fire drills, even if you do everything you can to ensure that a fire never breaks out.”
The Foreign Ministry is not the only body drawing up “day after” options for Iran; the National Security Council is believed to be preparing similar papers as well.
Until now there has been very little public discussion of adjusting to the possible reality of a nuclear Iran; all of the focus has been on how to stop Teheran and mobilize the world in that direction.
In the US, by contrast, there have been discussions at various governmental levels and in the media about life with a nuclear Iran, with some voices saying this cannot be avoided, and that – like the balance of deterrence that existed in the days of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union – it need not necessarily be seen in apocalyptic terms.
In Israel, the government official said, the feeling is very much that Iran with a bomb would indeed be a disaster, with no positive side to it.
Nonetheless it is a disaster which Israel, even while trying to avert, must prepare for, the official said.
The Foreign and Defense ministries regularly draw up contingency plans for any number of unwanted scenarios.
The Foreign Ministry, for example, also has a team also preparing options to present to the septet, security cabinet and government if the Palestinian Authority carries out its threats to ask the UN General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre- 1967 lines.

Uri Ariel: 'This is the beginning of a new era in J'lem'

New bill gives national priority to capital in housing, employment, and education; MK says "we expect end to illegal building freeze."

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation gave government support for a bill on Sunday that would give national priority to Jerusalem in housing, employment and education, similar to the priority given to periphery towns.
The legislation, sponsored by MK Uri Ariel (National Union), is slated for a first reading in the Knesset soon. On Sunday, Ariel welcomed the committee’s decision, saying, “This is the beginning of a new era in Jerusalem and a sign of things to come: We expect an end to the illegal building freeze in the capital.”
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The bill would award building priority to various neighborhoods in Jerusalem, including in the city’s east, and could lead to friction with the United States and Europe.
The effect the proposed legislation would have on the capital’s residents is not yet clear, but they would be expected to receive several benefits.
The bill was backed by the entire Legislative Committee, but Labor Ministers Shalom Simhon and Isaac Herzog, along with Likud colleagues Gideon Sa’ar and Bennie Begin – all of whom support the bill – asked to postpone the vote for three weeks. Their intention was to incorporate into the legislation further elements such as ones pertaining to welfare benefits. The request, however, was not granted.
Explanatory notes for the bill state that the government will promote the development and prosperity of Jerusalem and the well-being of its inhabitants through the allocation of special funds, and that Jerusalem will be given special priority regarding economic and development issues.
Although the bill does not mention building beyond the Green Line, it is expected the legislation will also cover Jewish neighborhoods east of the Green Line.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also applauded the Ministerial Committee’s decision, saying, “The formal recognition by the Knesset and the government regarding the need to strengthen Jerusalem is critical for the city’s future and for the continuation of the positive momentum in it.
“The decision will help to advance the transformation of Jerusalem as an attractive place for young people, tourists and investors,” he said.

debkafile's military and counter-terror sources confirm the WikiLeaks revelation that Iran developed camera-equipped suicide vests for al Qaeda's attacks on US troops under the instruction of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Center in Tehran. Our sources have discovered that the Islamic Jihad's "Jerusalem Brigades" in the Gaza Strip have been equipped with those same SVIED (Suicide Vest Improvised Explosive Devices) and have transferred some to al Qaeda cells at large in the territory.
This sophisticated suicide vest is fitted with miniature cameras which enable the bomber to monitor and relay images of an attack before he reaches his target, our military sources report. The bomber can thus stay in close touch with, and receive instructions, from his handlers every step of the way and also obtain images of the environment he is entering and the obstacles ahead.
An Israeli officer told debkafile that these mini-cameras "make it almost impossible for a suicide bomber to miss his aim. It makes him a human guided missile."
The presence of these SVIEDs in Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda hands in the Gaza Strip was recently brought to light by the Palestinian Hamas's intelligence agents as part of their report on the deepening collaboration between the Iranian proxy Islamic Jihad and local Salafi groups which have pledged loyalty to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and are a thorn in the sides of the Hamas rulers.
Jihad commanders are training the al Qaeda squads in the use of the novel suicide weapon of exactly the same type as Iran gave al Qaeda in Iraq and are joining them for missions against Israeli targets across the Gaza border. Thus far, Israeli troops have managed to thwart their attempts at encroachment, wiping them out as they crossed the border fence. Most of these incidents are not brought to the public's knowledge.
Hamas has meanwhile cautioned the Jerusalem Brigades to stop cooperating with al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip or else their training facilities and weapons caches will be destroyed, including their rockets, mortars and suicide belts.
However, the Islamic Jihad, which is not about to succumb to Hamas's dictates and disobey its masters in Tehran, sent back a two-part reply:
1. Any members carrying out attacks on Israel by firing rockets, planting bombs or using explosive vests without explicit instructions from their commanders will be expelled from the Islamic Jihad and ostracized.
2. Jihad leaders are ready for dialogue with Hamas, provided that its fighters are attached to the Hamas special force known to the IDF as the "Hamas Covert Unit," which was recently established to keep random missile fire against Israel in check.
Jihad did not refer to Hamas' primary demand, to terminate its operational collaboration with al Qaeda cells which challenge Hamas authority.
In Iraq, Al Qaeda is described in the ground-level view of the war offered in WikiLeaks 391,831 classified documents covering six years from early 2004 until Jan. 1, 2010 as "the strongest organization among the insurgent groups."

Anger as IDF Collects Israeli Weapons in Jordan Valley

by Maayana Miskin

IDF officials have announced that they plan to collect weapons from members of emergency security teams in several Israeli communities in the Jordan Valley, and place them in central weapons stores instead of the squad members' homes. The decision, made by Brigade Commander Yohai Ben-Yishai, follows the theft of two weapons from private homes in the town of Shdemot-Mehola on Saturday. The weapons had been secured with two locks as the law requires.

The Land of Israel Legal Forum protested the decision. “As far as we know, the weapons that were stolen had been properly secured,” the organization said in a letter sent to top IDF officials. “There's no doubt that must be investigated, but to take away the ability for residents of the Valley to defend themselves from harm is unreasonable."
“Not only does this order not increase security, it undermines it, and is dangerous. A delay in the security teams' response could cost lives,” the Forum concluded.
Residents of the area requested that if the IDF follows through with the weapons collection, additional IDF soldiers be sent to Israeli towns in the area to offer protection in place of the local patrols. Their request was sent to several senior officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Central Command head General Avi Mizrachi.
“If the army wants to take responsibility for security here, they're welcome to do so, but it's a huge area,” said regional council head David Elchiani. “The IDF arrives at the scene after 40 minutes on average, so our people need to be able to provide an instant response.”
Elchiani termed Ben-Yishai's decision “highly unusual,” and expressed hope that he would reconsider or would reach a compromise with local residents.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Hamas and Fatah declare start of negotiations

The rival parties are scheduled to meet next week to discuss ending their current dispute; news comes after arrests in West Bank, Gaza Strip.

Hamas announced on Sunday that it has reached an agreement with Fatah to hold a meeting next week to discuss ways of ending their dispute.
The announcement came as tensions between the two rival parties continued to mount following the arrest of Hamas and Fatah supporters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Moreover, the war of words between the two sides continues to escalate despite the talk about a possible reconciliation.
Hamas and Fatah representatives were scheduled to meet in Damascus last week in another bid to end the crisis.
However, the meeting was canceled following a heated altercation between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Syrian President Bashar Assad during the recent Arab summit in Libya.
Abbas’s aides accused Assad of “humiliating” the PA president by accusing him of succumbing to Israeli and American pressure to return to the negotiating table with Israel and abandoning the armed struggle option.
The two sides have yet to agree on the venue of next week’s meeting.
However, Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas legislator and spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said he did not rule out the possibility that the meeting would still be held in the Syrian capital.
Bardaweel denied claims that the political platforms of Hamas and Fatah were identical.
“Fatah leaders should not waste their time searching for similarities in the political platforms of Hamas and Fatah,” he said. “The only thing we could have in common is not recognizing Israel’s existence.”
The Hamas official said that even if his movement accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, it won’t relinquish its claim to historic Palestine, “from the sea to the river.”
Bardaweel was commenting on remarks made by Osama Qawasmeh, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, who claimed over the weekend that Hamas too recognized Israel’s right to exist.
Qawasmeh claimed that Hamas was ready to recognize Israel’s existence if a Palestinian state were to be established in the entire West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem.
Azzam Ahmed, head of the Fatah delegation to the talks with Hamas, said that the talks would focus on an Egyptian proposal that was presented to the two parties last year to end the conflict.
Ahmed said that Fatah and Hamas have yet to agree on a number of points in the proposal, including holding new elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, reconstructing the Palestinian security forces and the release of prisoners held by both sides.
The Fatah representative denied that an Israeli or American “veto” was preventing his faction from signing a deal with Hamas. “Fatah’s will is stronger than any American veto,” he said. “That’s why we already accepted the Egyptian reconciliation plan. Also, we won’t allow Israel to intervene in the internal affairs of the Palestinians.”
In a related development, Hamas accused Fatah-controlled security forces in the West Bank of arresting “Islamic scholar” Majed Hassan less than two weeks after he was released from Israeli prison.
Hassan, a resident of Ramallah, served three years in an Israeli prison and was released on October 7. Since then he had been summoned three times for interrogation by different branches of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. On Sunday he was summoned for the third time and arrested in a PA prison in Ramallah.